SECTION 2 - Cost Effectiveness

DESIGN GUIDELINES / FACILITY STANDARDS

I.  Introduction

When a capital outlay program is undertaken to renovate existing school campuses, add new buildings, or to construct entirely new school campuses, it is imperative to take steps to ensure uniformity among the projects.  Developing Facility Standards allows a District to achieve uniformity by clearly expressing its needs and desires with respect to design criteria, equipment, materials, quality and type of systems to be incorporated into the various projects by multiple design teams.

Facility Standards help create parity among the projects through standardization and can yield significant maintenance cost savings for the life of the building.  This goal is achieved through in-depth interviews with the District's various stakeholders to learn what they are familiar with, what their challenges are and what they desire, then communicating this information in a clear and concise manner to the design professionals.  In addition, these standards should include procedural requirements to insure that the District's goals are being achieved by requiring the appropriate checks and buy-in as the design progresses.  A District undertaking multiple construction projects benefits from having a Facilities Standards document in many important ways:

• It helps create parity between projects
• It allows opportunity to address specific design criteria
• It provides clear and consistent programming information
• It allows the opportunity to incorporate "lesson's learned" as program progress
• It improves the District's ability to estimate costs and control budgets
• It minimizes Owner-requested change orders
• It considers life-cycle cost, rather than focusing solely on initial cost
• It allows the District to specify low maintenance, proven, reliable and durable products
• It limits the number of different products a District will need to maintain
• It limits the amount of replacement parts the District needs to stock

II.  Development of Facility Standards Document

A large amount of collaboration is needed to develop a quality document.  Start by incorporating any current District information.  If possible, try to obtain a copy of another District's standards and create a base document through a joint effort with stakeholders.  Encourage feedback; the more input the better the outcome.  Remember that the facility standards document can be a tool to promote creativity, consistency and camaraderie.

The Facility Standards document should be a consensus document, Board approved, to provide guidance for the building program.  It also can substantiate any single source manufacturers that may be desired and keep the District in compliance with Public Contract Code requirements.  Facility Standards typically include the following components:

• General Criteria
• Process Requirements
• Design Criteria for the Various Project Types
• Document (drawing) Standards
• Outline Specifications
• Appendices (May include items such as):
  • Board resolution on single source manufacturers
  • Process checklists
  • Special details
  • Equipment schedules
  • Color schedule
  • Prototypical classroom layout

Facility Standards should be developed on a consensus basis with buy-in from the various stakeholders.  This typically is achieved first through a series of meetings with the District staff.  The titles and number of staff members varies by District, but should include input from the people that need to clean and maintain the facility, work in the facility, pay for the improvements, and pay for the future maintenance.  It is critical to the success of the Facility Standards that each stakeholder has the opportunity to provide input and understand others' input to build consensus on the decisions rendered.  Additionally, teams should meet with different manufacturers' representatives and specialty contractors to determine the most current code requirements and product selections to include in the Facility Standards.  It is very helpful to collaborate with other Districts to learn from their successes and challenges.  The final buy-in on the Facility Standards is with the design professionals that will be required to implement them.  The design professionals should be afforded the opportunity to comment on the draft standards and make recommendations.  This process of fully vetting the Facility Standards with all stakeholders and building consensus prior to the start of the design will expedite any project and provide a better final product.

III.  Use of Facility Standards

A protocol describing the "do's and don't's" for this document should be established upon its final distribution; common practice is to have it as an exhibit to the architect's agreement.  All questions, comments, suggestions or possible discrepancies should be communicated to the designated district representative.  While there is always room for improvement, a district should welcome any suggestions to improve the Standards. Deviations from the Standards version currently in effect need to be specifically approved, preferably in writing, by the appropriate district representative.

Since products and codes change and the District's desires may change, it is important to understand that this is a "living" document that needs to be maintained and updated on an on-going base.  When a revision to the document is necessary, it is helpful to have a revision protocol in place including a detailed distribution list of those to be notified of such revisions.  When such a revision is implemented, the designated district representative will need to determine whether or not to issue revisions on all ongoing projects since it will have different cost and schedule impacts depending on status of a particular project.

The Facility Standards are most effective when used in conjunction with other project specific documents.  These may include:

• Educational Specifications that provide project specific programming requirements through curriculum requirements,
• Project Scope Statements that address the specific projects needs, and
• Project Budgets that places constraints on the design solutions

Facility Standards should be formatted with separate design criteria for the different types of projects anticipated, such as new construction, renovation work, portable building projects, and modular building projects. However, common standards for documents and outline specifications apply to all projects.  This provides the opportunity to address the unique requirements for the various types of projects, address supplemental data and allow for the uniformity of processes, materials and equipment where possible.

• New Construction Projects
  The Facility Standards will be used in conjunction with the educational specifications for developing the project plans and specifications.  The District representative will either provide the design team with Educational Specifications for new construction projects, or work with them to develop Educational Specifications.
• Renovation Projects
  The Facility Standards will be used in conjunction with the specific scope statement for the project to govern building design standards, product standards and drawing standards.  The District representative should provide the design team with a specific scope statement that includes all work that needs to be incorporated into the construction contract documents.  The District should also provide a copy of all available original plans and record drawings.
• Portable or Modular Building Projects
  The Facility Standards will be used in conjunction with the specific scope statement for the project to govern building design standards, product standards and drawing standards.  The District representative should provide the design team with the specific scope statement for portable building projects.
• Document Standards
  All documents prepared for use on any of the project types can be standardized to provide a uniform standard of quality documents.
• Outline Specifications
  Although the projects types may vary, the products being installed can still be standardized.  The design professionals are to incorporate the information contained in the outline specification section into their project specifications as appropriate.

A Facility Design Standards document can provide both general and specific design and procurement information for all types of projects.  Following is a brief list of examples:

• Some General Examples of Design Standard Items:
  • "C.H.P.S. certification required…"
  • "Buildings shall be constructed with durable permanent materials…"
  • "Campuses shall be Master Planned to accommodate future buildings and portable classrooms with service infrastructure…"
• Some Examples of More Specific Design Standard Items:
  • "Sloped roofing shall be metal…"
  • "Exterior doors shall have vision lights..."
  • "Transformers shall be roof mounted…"
• Some Examples of Procedural Requirements:
  • "Prior to proceeding with Construction Documents obtain schematic design approval of reconfigured toilet room…"
  • "Prior to proceeding with Landscaping Plan submit and obtain approval of planting list…"

Facility Standards can be drafted as very prescriptive or very loose or somewhere in between.  The more prescriptive approach provides more uniformity and more cost control.  The looser approach allows designers more flexibility and creative freedom.  The document also gives stakeholders the opportunity to express their pet peeves and to incorporate lessons learned from previous projects.  Standardized details are often used to clearly identify products and specific installation procedures the District may desire.

IV.  Single Source Specification

Probably the most effective way to ensure the District receives a specific product or system it truly desires is to single source the item, stating clearly that there are no substitutions allowed in the bid process.  The District will need to go through a justification or rationale process and pass a Board resolution listing the items.  Below is a list of some of the legal justifications for such a decision:

• Compatibility with existing products, equipment and systems for the purpose of maintainability.
• Increases efficiency of staff training for the maintenance of the products, equipment and systems.
• Form, fit and functional interchangeability for the purpose of system or unit integrity or maintainability.
• Increase competitiveness, pricing and proprietary service by specifying products that avoid territorial vendors and proprietary parts or service.
• Compatible with items to be added to an existing system.
• Compatibility with District parts inventory, and/or service capabilities.
• Matching of existing products, materials, equipment and systems.

Once the District has a Board approved single source manufacturing list, it will be important to provide full disclosure in the specifications of any given project.  A sample paragraph is as follows:

"The specifications for this project include particular systems, products and/or materials that have been specifically identified by brand or trade name and for which no "or-equals" or substitutions are allowed.  Pursuant to California Public Contract Code section 3400(b)(2), the District has determined that those systems, products and/or materials are required to match other systems, products and/or materials in use on existing District construction projects either completed or in the course of completion."

Design standards and outline specifications can be effectively enforced using certain approaches.  As previously mentioned, it is good practice to have the Facility Standards document attached as an exhibit to the Architect's agreement.  Phased procedural requirements can also be laid out using checklists.  The document should be used for internal quality control reviews during each phase of a project.  Lists should be made of items that require coordination with anyone and everyone of the design team.  Lists should also be made of items that require the Owner's review.

V.  Facility Standards Maintenance

Maintenance of this "living" document will be a continuous process.  There will always be a need to incorporate new products and technologies.  There will be code changes, discontinued products, as well as continual feedback and lessons learned.  Maintenance of this document will result in many benefits: 

• Uniformity of Designs, Products and Building Systems
• Equity/Equality Among Campuses
• Cost savings
• Reduced Operating Costs:
  • Use of proven, low maintenance, durable products.
  • Reduction of replacement parts stock.
  • Reduced need for staff training.
  • Energy Savings.
• Time and cost savings due to a reduction in project change orders.
• Time and cost savings by minimizing repetitive project programming.

In conclusion, with a lot of upfront work and planning, a lot of work and time will be saved down the road and ultimately Facilities Standards will yield a superior finished product for less money.

- Heather Dutton

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